MOVIE REVIEW: Sharks vs. starlets in '47 Meters Down'

Thursday

Jun 15, 2017 at 3:25 PMJun 15, 2017 at 4:51 PM

Dana Barbuto The Patriot Ledger

Starlet vs. Shark. It’s a sure sign of summer. Last season it was a bikini-clad Blake Lively taking on a super-aggressive, man-eating mako in “The Shallows.” Up next in the rotation is “This is Us” hottie Mandy Moore, trying to escape the jaws of great whites in the conceptually ludicrous “47 Meters Down.”

The movie, from Johannes Roberts (co-wrote the script with Ernest Riera), is a taut 89-minutes that puts everyday people at the mercy of natural predators and the elements. Two sisters (Moore and Claire Holt) are trapped in a cage at the bottom of the ocean. Sharks circle. Will they be rescued? Will they run out of air? What do you think? It’s a deep-sea horror movie, and the filmmakers leave no trope untouched. All the usual elements are here – jump scares, an isolated setting, an overall sense of dread, a murderous enemy, pretty women making bad decisions...

But these trite devices can’t mask a weak narrative and poor character development. My friend (wink, wink) jumped out of her seat during an early heart-stopping scare. After that, it is pretty transparent how things will go down and who will survive. Out of the gate, Roberts (“The Other Side of the Door”) is onto something, but then he doesn’t know what to do with the predicament he concocts. After the tether snaps and the dive takes a dive, the sisters fight to survive. Lisa (Moore) is the straight-laced older sister. She prefers the hotel-sanctioned activities on their Mexican resort; not the diving excursion aboard the decrepit fishing boat captained by Matthew Modine. Younger and more adventurous sib, Kate (Holt), pressures Lisa into the sea adventure because it involves cute guys. Fresh off a breakup, Lisa is dying to show her ex she’s still fun. Just think of the Instagram pics this cage plunge into the shark-infested waters will produce. Chum the water. It’s about to get (un)real.

Give Roberts credit for having the chutzpah to blatantly rip-off the unnerving shark tale “Open Water” and “Jaws.” “47 Meters Down” is a series of shark encounters strung together by moments of hope and despair. One sequence, however, is a gripping, gory good time. Full enjoyment comes from watching it in the dark with a rowdy audience.

But like almost every other shark tale that’s followed Spielberg into the water, “47 Meters Down” is nothing more than a B-movie with a slapdash script, second-tier acting and an ending so unsatisfying that it feels like the producers ran out of money. Instead of a bigger boat, “47 Meters Down” needs a better story.

Dana Barbuto may be reached at dbarbuto@ledger.com or follow her on Twitter @dbarbuto_Ledger.